Air conditioners will grow less mold if operated in a specific way.\u00a0 In this article I will explain why this is and how to operate them correctly to reduce mold growth.
\nAir conditioners are notorious mold producers.\u00a0 In this article I will explain why this is and how to reduce this problem.<\/p>\n

Air Conditioners Grow Mold – the Reason<\/h2>\n

Here is what mold requires to grow well:<\/p>\n

\n
1. Moisture<\/li>\n
2. Food<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

   Those are pretty low requirements.\u00a0 Mold grows so much better if it is dark, warm, and the air doesn’t move.<\/p>\n

   Now let’s look at the inside of an air conditioner.<\/p>\n

   It is moist, because cool temperatures cause moisture in the air to condense.\u00a0 Removing moisture from the air is almost as important to comfort as reducing temperature.<\/p>\n

   It has food, because the air conditioner is constantly taking in dust-laden air from the room.\u00a0 This sticks to the wet cooling fins, where it sticks.\u00a0 Central air conditioners don’t have this problem as long as the air filter is properly installed.<\/p>\n

   Temperatures are cooler than ideal for mold, but not cold enough to destroy the mold.\u00a0 When the air conditioner turns off, the temperature rises and becomes perfect.<\/p>\n

   It is pretty dark inside an air conditioner.<\/p>\n

   When the air conditioner is off, the air does not move.<\/p>\n

   Preventing Mold Growth in Air Conditioners<\/h2>\n

   A dry air conditioner will not grow any mold.\u00a0 This is the key to cracking the problem.<\/p>\n

   The solution is simple: run the air conditioner on fan only (cool off) for sufficiently long to dry out the interior.\u00a0 I have seen it suggested that the air conditioner should run for 2 hours.\u00a0 Even 15 – 20 minutes should help substantially.\u00a0 This will work for split air conditioners, window-mounted (“window shaker”) models, and car air conditioners.\u00a0 In the case of a car air conditioner, even turning off the air conditioner and running the fan on high while recirculating the air (which will be much dryer than taking outside air) for a couple of minutes makes a huge difference in my experience.<\/p>\n

   For central air, this should be unnecessary, as long as the dust filter is properly fitted.<\/p>\n

   Have you tried this method?\u00a0 How does it work for you?\u00a0 Leave a comment and share your experiences.<\/p>\n

   This comment from John might be interesting to some:<\/p>\n

   These modern air conditioners sling the condensate on the condenser. The dust,and anything else in the air plugs the condenser. The dust along with the wet conditions cause mold to grow. Solution, forget the warranty, my health is more important.I am going to drill a drain hole in mine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

   Air conditioners will grow less mold if operated in a specific way.\u00a0 In this article I will explain why this is and how to operate them correctly to reduce mold growth. Air conditioners are notorious mold producers.\u00a0 In this article I will explain why this is and how to reduce this problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[13],"tags":[301,32,76],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2147"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3549,"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147\/revisions\/3549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}